James Dennehy, the head of the FBI's New York Field Office, has announced his abrupt retirement, a move that follows his resistance to directives issued by appointees of former President Donald Trump at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Dennehy, a Marine veteran who joined the bureau in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks, ascended to the position of assistant director in charge of the field office just last year.
According to The Washington Examiner, Dennehy informed his staff of his forced retirement in a message, stating that he was not provided with a reason for this abrupt decision. He wrote, "Ive been told many times in my life, When you find yourself in a hole, sometimes its best to quit digging. Screw that. I will never stop defending this joint. Ill just do it willingly and proudly from outside the wire."
Dennehy's departure comes in the wake of a New York Times report that he had pledged to his staff to "dig in" against a directive from DOJ's acting No. 2, Emil Bove. Bove had ordered the FBI to compile a list of employees who worked on the January 6th cases for potential personnel action. Dennehy expressed his concern in an email to his staff that "good people" were being forced out of the bureau, while others were "being targeted because they did their jobs."
Bove's directive was part of the Trump DOJ's efforts to review nearly 1,600 January 6th cases for any overzealous investigative activity. This aligns with Trump's executive action, which labeled the entire four-year investigation and prosecution of both violent and nonviolent January 6th rioters as a "grave national injustice."
Retired FBI agents have voiced their concerns to The Washington Examiner, stating that mass firings could pose a threat to national security, and that most employees follow orders either directly from the DOJ or from the seventh floor of FBI headquarters. Bove has since clarified that employees who followed orders have nothing to fear.
Dennehy's office also came under fire from Attorney General Pam Bondi last week, following the DOJ's chaotic release of an initial batch of files related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case. Bondi had promised to release the files, but only 200 pages from Epstein's case were published, despite the case likely involving hundreds of thousands of pages or more of documents and other discovery material.
Bondi claimed that a "source" informed her that the FBI New York Field Office was withholding "thousands of pages" related to the case. She ordered newly-confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate the matter and provide her with any outstanding material by Friday. However, it remains unclear what files Bondi believes the New York office was improperly withholding.
In his resignation message, Dennehy expressed regret for not being able to fulfill his commitment to serve for a full two years as head of the field office. He praised his employees for always doing "the right thing."
He wrote, "But as I leave today, I have an immense feeling of pride to have represented an office of professionals who will always do the right thing for the right reasons who will never bend, break, falter, or quit on your integrity; who will always handle cases and evidence with an overabundance of caution and care for the innocent, the victims, and the process first; and who will always remain independent."
The FBI has declined to comment on Dennehys resignation. This leaves questions about the future of the New York Field Office and the potential impact of Dennehy's departure on ongoing investigations.
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